62 THE QUEENS COURIER • HOLIDAY • DECEMBER 21, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
holiday
Holiday market and carnival opens
up in former Rego Park supermarket
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
A former Rego Park supermarket has
now become the home of a bustling holiday
Photos courtesy of the Rego Park Market
Holiday festival for families of formerly jailed persons
market and indoor carnival.
Rego Park residents all knew and loved
the old Pioneer Supermarket. Aft er a couple
of years of the Pioneer being closed,
the owners of the store, Allen Aminov,
Tony Carbonaro and Ioannis “Yani”
Pierros, decided it was time to start to
use the space, and the Rego Park Market
was born.
“Th e Pioneer closed two and a half to
three years ago and the space wasn’t being
used,” Aminov said. “We decided to open
the space as a holiday market because we
wanted the community to have a place to
go for the holidays.”
Th e Rego Park Market takes place inside
the old Pioneer Supermarket, located at
99-01 63rd Rd. Open seven days a week
from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., the market
currently has about 60 vendors that off er
a variety of one-of-a-kind products and
services.
“We have businesses that off er a wide
spectrum of off erings,” Aminov said.
“We have a booth for New York Life
Insurance, jewelry and antique sellers,
tables with comic books collectibles and
some really beautiful art, just to name a
few.”
Th e latest addition to the Rego Park
Market is an indoor carnival complete
with a bouncy obstacle course, classic
carnival games, raffl es and prizes. In this
densely populated neighborhood, there
isn’t much in terms of local entertainment
for children. Th e Rego Park Market off ers
a safe space where children can play while
their parents can shop.
“We have all kinds of games, the ring
toss, the goldfi sh game and a crayon
bouncy castle,” Aminov said. “Th is is like
an indoor street fair.”
For information about the market or
becoming a vendor, call Aminov at 516-
400-6082.
Nearly 25 families joyously celebrated
the holidays together at Th e Fortune
Society for its holiday festival. Parents
and children had the opportunity to create
special memories and positive connections
(some for the fi rst time as a family)
while craft ing holiday ornaments,
cards, and stockings. Th e event featured
games, relay races, caroling, raffl es, delicious
food, and an appearance from Santa
himself. Each child in attendance received
a gift thanks to a generous donation from
the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofi t
independent national research and policy
organization that works to build and
improve justice systems.
Photo courtesy of The Fortune Society